Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique that performs image processing for image data of which the focus range is changeable after shooting.
Description of the Related Art
There is known a camera (light-field camera, hereinafter also referred to as “LF camera”) that is capable of recording light information (light field, hereinafter also referred to as “LF”) in three dimensional space by utilizing a special lens and a high-resolution sensor. In the LF camera, a micro lens group called “micro lens” is arranged on the front surface of the high-resolution sensor. A plurality of micro lenses corresponds to one light spot and information about light in different direction at a different depth of field is recorded for each micro lens, so that a LF image can be acquired. The focus range and the viewpoint of the LF image captured by the LF camera can be changed after shooting. LF image data includes light beam information indicating the intensity of a light beam relating to the captured image and directional information about the light beam.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-208961 discloses a technique for obtaining an image which is in focus on an object or a main object intended by a photographer within a cutout range when the object is photographed by a camera. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H10-79882 discloses a technique that performs input adjustment (e.g., focus adjustment, exposure adjustment, and color adjustment) for a cutout image upon cutout execution of the image to be input from an electronic camera to a personal computer.
However, the number of pixels has been increasing due to the advancement of technique for an imaging element. In such circumstances, it is expected that the LF camera may become popular because the LF camera can effectively use pixels by allocating them not only to resolution directions but also to a plurality of micro lenses. Although the focus range or the like of the LF image can be changed after shooting, the focus range of the LF image must be determined upon display thereof. Thus, it is typical to append the focus range upon, for example, shooting as the focus range of the initial setting (hereinafter referred to as “default focus range”) from the viewpoint of convenience of use.
When an extra video portion is captured into a photographed image, it is typical for a user to perform trim editing for extracting a desired object image in order to adjust the composition of the image. On the other hand, when trim editing is performed for the LF image, it is contemplated that the focus state of a trimming area set as the default focus range may be inappropriate. For example, assume that a user wants to trim the video portion of flowers in a landscape image. In this case, when the default focus range is set on the background side such as mountains and buildings located on the far side of the flowers, the flowers on the front side are out of focus. When a user performs enlargement processing for enlarging the circumference of a desired object image in the photographed image in order to confirm the details of the image content, it is also contemplated that the focus state of the enlargement area may be inappropriate.